Tag: indie author

Book Review: Mile High (Windy City #1) by Liz Tomforde

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Sports Romance
Length: 603 pages
Author: Liz Tomforde
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: June 7th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Zanders

Chicago hockey isn’t complete without me—everyone’s favorite player to hate. I know my role, and I play it well. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy spending the majority of my game time in the penalty box before leaving the arena with a new girl on my arm each night.

What I don’t like is the new flight attendant on our team’s private plane. She works for me, not the other way around. But I’ll be sure to remind her of that, and I can guarantee, by the end of the season, she’ll be begging to quit her job.

But every road trip blurs the lines, and I can’t quite figure out if I keep pushing that flight attendant call button in order to push her buttons or if it’s more than that.

Stevie

I’ve been a flight attendant for years. I thought I’d see it all, but when my new job lands me onboard working for the most egotistical and self-righteous diva in the NHL, I start to second guess everything. Including the promise I made to myself of never hooking up with an athlete again…no matter how annoyingly tempting he may be.

Evan Zanders is unfiltered, unapologetic, and too attractive for his own good. He loves his image, but I hate everything about it.

Everything but him.

TOOK ME BY SURPRISED.

Here I am, reading every sports romance I can get my hands on. I’ve been holding off on picking this one up because of the spice, BUT I will say, why spicy (and I did skip a lot), the plot did outweigh that for me. I really loved the core of this story and the character growth throughout.

I am obsessed when the guy falls first, and the guy falls HARD. Enter Zanders who absolutely could not leave Stevie alone. Love that for him. I loved his bad boy, but actually a sweetheart persona and I loved that Stevie would take no crap from him, but also worked through her personal body issues.

I didn’t love that this had a one night stand trope *shrugs*. That’s a me thing but I stand by it. I did love the mental health conversations, all of the shelter dog content and of course, the hockey games too. I loved the audio and look forward to book two!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Sports Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: 5+ open; high explicit
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: many conversations surrounding body image/weight issues, parental abandonment, mentions of anxiety/panic attacks, psychologically manipulative mother

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ARC Book Review: Sunday Supper by K. Sinko

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 321 pages
Author: K. Sinko
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: September 12th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

It’s fall in New York, arguably the most beautiful time to be in the city, but Bella Russo doesn’t care. After experiencing the unthinkable three times in a row, she gave up on everything, and her husband packed his bags and left.

Thick in the fog of her disappointment, Bella takes a series of DNA tests to find out what’s wrong with her. Little did she know one of her tests would reveal a dark family truth: her grandfather had a secret family, and she has an uncle she never met.

Even though Bella spends every Sunday supper with her family at her Nonna’s deli in Little Italy—famously known for her iconic meatballs—they never told her the truth. Could she trust them to tell her now?

When she researches her uncle, she finds out he owns several restaurants, so she visits one. Her uncle isn’t there, but instead, she ends up butting heads with the executive chef Wyatt Henderson. He’s a little too pretentious for Bella’s taste, and yet, Wyatt is obviously close with the uncle she never knew. Before she fully comprehends what she’s doing, she befriends Wyatt to get her answers.

Thank you to the author for an eARC.

SMITTEN.

Oh this book took over my evening. And then suddenly it was 1 AM and I was puddle finishing this beautiful story. I loved the way two difficult topics (mentioned in the content warnings below) were handled. The honest and hard conversations were had with raw human emotion and a clear strength of soul.

And let me tell you, this book screams FALL IN NEW YORK. I’ve honestly never had big designs on going to NY but this book might have just convinced me. The setting is beautifully landscaped and had me wishing I was wearing a sweater right now.

THE ROMANCE. Gosh. This is how you write that instant kind of connection. There’s a fantastic slow burn with immediate chemistry. I was all for Bella and Wyatt from the get-go. These two souls who feel so broken about some deep things in their lives and how they finally found that person who seems them as a whole.

There was just the right level of family drama too. I was intrigued and drawn into this family. I loved the journey. I loved this book. Read it!!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: low-moderate
  • Romance: 2 open door scenes; low explicit
  • Violence: low
  • Content Warnings: erectile dysfunction, miscarriage (recurrent theme), cheating (FMC’s ex-husband), brief physical altercation, grief and depression

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Book Review: Coach (Treasure State Wildcats #1) by Devney Perry

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Sports Romance
Length: 341 pages
Author: Devney Perry
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: April 6th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A single dad, sports romance from Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author, Devney Perry.

Football star. Single dad. And once, a long time ago, mine.

I’ve spent the better part of a decade forgetting Ford Ellis. If he had just stayed away from Montana, I might have erased the memory of his striking blue eyes and rugged smile forever. Avoiding him was easy when the only place I saw his face was on ESPN—and a remote control could fix that problem.

Except my boss just hired Ford as the new head coach for the Treasure State Wildcats. Not only will I be stuck watching him on the sidelines this season, but avoiding him will be impossible now that we’re working together.

Maybe I haven’t forgotten Ford. Maybe I still dream about what we might have been. Maybe he hasn’t forgotten me either.

Except those maybes won’t change the fact that we were never meant to be. Maybe he was mine once. But as of today, the only thing I’ll be calling Ford Ellis is Coach.

LOVED.

Took a swing at another Devney Perry book and this was a HIT. I was in a chokehold over Ford. I loooved how much he was IN. He wanted all of Millie and continually made a point of showing that in word and deed. We are here for a man like that. Swooned in a puddle 100x over.

I also really loved Millie. She finally got the chance to clear the air, reconnect and find her happily ever after. I absolutely loved that she was an assistant AD. Ford as a single Dad was immaculate. And the football content was everything you want in a sports romance.

The burn is pretty quick and I do wish there was a bit more something. Some more angsty buildup? I don’t know, there’s just this last little thing niggling me that was missing. The ending was too dang good though and I am can’t wait for book two.

Overall audience notes:

  • Sports Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: 4+ open; high explicit
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: divorce, cheating ex (who also is a neglectful parent)

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Book Review: The Hardest Fall by Ella Maise

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: NA Sports Romance
Length: 430 pages
Author: Ella Maise
Publisher: Self published
Release Date: April 16th, 2018
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The first time you meet someone, you make eye contact. You smile, say hello. Should be simple, if you’re anyone but me. The first time I met Dylan Reed, I found myself making eye contact with a different part of his body. You see, I’m very good at being shy, not to mention extremely well-versed in rambling nonsense and, unfortunately, rather highly skilled at making a fool of myself in front of a guy I’m attracted to.

At the time, I knew nothing about him and thought none of what I said would matter since I’d never speak to him again. Turns out, I was very wrong. He was the star wide receiver of the football team, one of the few players expected to make it into the NFL, and I ended up seeing him all over campus.
I might have also propositioned him, run away from him, attacked him with a cooking utensil…and…uh, maybe I shouldn’t tell you all of it. It’s pretty normal stuff, things you’d expect…from me. Eventually, the time came when I couldn’t hide anymore—not that he’d have let me even if I tried.
Before now, he never knew I was secretly watching him. Now that we see each other every day, he knows when I have a hard time looking away. It doesn’t help that I’m not the most subtle person in the world either.

He smiles at me and tells me he finds me fascinating because of my quirks. I can’t even tell him that I think my heart beats differently whenever he’s around.

He thinks we’re going to be best friends. I think I have a big thing for him, and the more I get to know him, the more I don’t care that I’m not allowed to be his friend, let alone fall for him.
The thing is, that’s exactly what I’m doing—what we’re doing, I think.

Falling.
Hard.

EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED.

I started this one off not knowing how I would feel about it and then found myself holding my hand to my open mouth in shock watching the other shoe drop angry I had to put my audio book away for real life things because I NEEDED ANSWERS. Cleary this book wrapped me up and I was utterly smitten with Dylan and Zoe.

This turned out to be a really sweet strangers to friends to lovers scenario. I loved the forced proximity and all of the subtle moments that brought Dylan and Zoe together. I can’t help but love a good jealousy or protective moment and this had BOTH. I can also happily say this is definitely a sports romance. I loved the football aspects that were woven in well to the plot too.

I thought the Mark thing was initially off putting until fully explained and I wish that that creep factor hadn’t bee there at all. I don’t have any major issues otherwise. This was a swoony new adult romance that I could not put down.

Overall audience notes:

  • NA Sports Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: 3-4 open; high explicit
  • Violence: moderate
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: rape (occurs to a side character, aftermath depicted), physical assault

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